A New Performance Standard for Affordable Subs
The REL HT/1205 MKII establishes a new performance standard for affordable home theater subwoofers. It avoids electronic gimmickry in favor of properly balanced priorities. The cabinet is right-sized, solidly braced, and beautifully finished. A sparkling new amp design effortlessly delivers 500W into an all-new CarbonGlas™ 12" driver. The sexy new black lacquer top plate has a subtle REL logo floating on top, and the expensively wrought black line-grained composite for the cabinet looks incredible.
The HT/1205 MKII plays 50% louder than its predecessor, while also delivering more precision and subtlety. It is capable of output levels more commonly found in models costing far more. It is fantastic for music as well as home theater, and it is compatible with HT-Air wireless connectivity (optional, sold separately).
Rethinking What's Possible
REL's Serie HT is designed specifically to answer the challenge of creating affordably priced, exceptionally dynamic, pure home theater powered subwoofers. The HT/1205 MKII is the ideal combination of a lightweight, modern 12" CarbonGlas™ driver coupled to a powerful 500W Class D amplifier that runs cool, producing extraordinary dynamics. Internally, REL developed specially adapted home theater input filters that produce extremely flat bass down in the 20 kHz region.
REL set out to build the loudest, relatively compact 12" unit available for pure home theater use, and at truly attractive pricing. The HT/1205 MKII is destined to become a modern classic with svelte cabinet dimensions finished in an attractive, yet purposeful line grained black aluminum-look and topped by a 12mm thick beautifully polished top that serves to damp vibrations on the critical top surface of the cabinet.
For REL owners already enjoying Reference, Serie S and T/i subwoofers designed for both two-channel and theater use, the HT/1205 is designed to supplement your system's .1/LFE output to produce extremely high output for chest-rumbling home theater special effects.
Designer Exterior
The beautiful new cabinetry has textures, proportions, and finishing touches previously unseen in the price range. Lower, sleeker cabinetry borrows proportions drawn from REL's new Reference models. Over the years, the compapny's experiments have established that this results in a faster, deeper presentation of bass, all while looking smashing.
Your eye is immediately drawn to the top panel, whose entire surface finished in five coats of hand-polished piano black lacquer. A discreet REL logo floats within the top layer of lacquer. The body of the cabinet is clad in horizontally streaked, line-grained composite. The entire affair looks expensive, bespoke, and tastefully restrained.
Beefed Up Driver Technology
The HT/1205 MKII's driver is a 12" CarbonGlas™ construction similar to the previous model, but all its components were beefed up. It is improved in both large and small ways, enabling it to deliver the greatest performance possible.
Lightweight, stiff, and quiet, the combination of glass fiber primary cones with true carbon fiber centre caps results in a cost-effective yet pistonic cone. Larger, more powerful magnets produce more energy. Upgraded suspension designs control the HT/1205 MKII's output all the way out to the limits of both the amplifier and the driver. The result is crazy output, while the HT/1205 MKII remains fast and liquid.
Heavy Lifting Made Simple
Amplifiers do the heavy lifting in a home theater subwoofer. REL turned to a true tier one amp supplier to build this latest design, and they did not disappoint. They included thicker boards, upgraded the power supplies, and did all the stuff that results in a brutally powerful amp with remarkable longevity. Additionally, the MOSFET power modules rated at 800 watts mean this amp is just cruising at its 500-watt rating. It produces truly awe-inspiring sound. While the theater gets all the headlines, the HT/1205 MKII's big secret is that it sounds sublime in musical applications. Big and robust-sounding, it is sure to become an instant classic.
PerfectFilters™ – Where it All Starts
REL input filters are renowned throughout the audio world. They bring together ultra-fast crossovers, elevation filters that extend the flatness of deep bass, and explosive-sounding integrated limiters.
This compact series of analog circuits is REL's secret recipe in both music and film sound. Refined in this second generation, the secondary filters are much higher in frequency. They make the rarefaction of air in the sound of an explosion to feel that much more realistic. Also, REL's latest circuit includes an all-analog subsonic filter that begins as low as 8 Hz to minimize the effects of infra-noise from soundtracks that extends well below the resonance point of the driver. The result is incredible delivered power with the ability to play all the way to the driver's limit without distortion.
Zero Compression Wireless Compatible
There is wireless and there is REL wireless. REL is well-known for having one of the finest wireless purpose-built audio systems in the world.
Wired for sound used to entail long runs of cable strewn across the floor. With REL's optional HT-Air™, great sound has become "un-wired." Wire has been replaced by a tiny transmitter and matching receiver that sends an incredibly fast 5.8Ghz wireless signal up to 60 feet with no digital compression. This affordable circuit includes the same LSIC chip that powers REL's state-of-the-art AirShip II, minus the expensive analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog (DAC) convertors. The HT-Air is perfect for the .1/LFE signals using RCA connectors that are HT/1205 MKII's primary mission.
